Marshall notebook: Dobson's injury opened up playing time for Evans, Allen

HUNTINGTON - Demetrius Evans and Davonte Allen have gotten snaps in relief of Aaron Dobson at Marshall's "X" receiver position, but they found themselves looking at a lot more Saturday against Memphis.Marshall's first play from scrimmage was Rakeem Cato's 4-yard quick pass to Dobson. As Dobson was tackled by DeAndre Thompson and Cannon Smith, both of his knees bent back awkwardly.Dobson walked off the field with some assistance, but his day was done. That left Evans and Allen to pick up the slack the rest of the game.They had a fine day, with Evans catching seven passes for 50 yards and Allen four for 87. Evans had a 25-yard TD catch early in the third quarter and Allen had the catch that was most critical, a 28-yarder with 7:34 left that set the final margin of 38-28. The play finally halted Memphis' comeback from a 31-7 deficit.On the offensive line, right guard John Bruhin was held out, leaving Garrett Scott to start there and Gage Niemeyer to start at right tackle. Left guard Josh Lovell also held out most of the game, with Alex Schooler filling in there. Lovell did play some snaps, moving Schooler to right guard and Scott to right tackle. On the defensive line, tackle Brandon Sparrow was injured, but Marshall coach Doc Holliday thinks he will be fine.Holliday praised cornerbacks Derrick Thomas and Monterius Lovett, who went all 84 Memphis snaps, and they did so with little practice this week. Keith Baxter, still holding one arm, dressed but only watched."There wasn't a whole lot of practice time for those guys this week," Holliday said. "Lovett, he was in a boot all week, took that boot off and played every snap. Derrick Thomas didn't take one snap in practice. For those guys to show up and play like they did without practicing - I don't like that, but I didn't have anybody else."All three of those kids should be healthy and practicing this week."As for Dobson, Holliday said he was unsure about his prognosis. The Dunbar native did stand to watch the remainder of the game after receiving treatment.

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Marshall blocked its sixth kick of the year when Jeremiah Taylor snuffed out a 29-yard field goal try by Paulo Henriques, a play that ultimately prevented the Tigers from tying the game. It came on the Tigers' first drive of the second half, when Marshall was protecting a 17-7 lead.
But that was one of two highlights of an otherwise dismal day for the Herd's special teams. The funny thing was this: A Bobby McCain 52-yard kickoff return to open the third quarter set up another Herd highlight, a recovery of a not-so-onside kick.McCain's long return, which came a week after Central Florida's Quincy McDuffie returned two for touchdowns against the Herd, forced Marshall into squibbing. On the next kickoff, Justin Haig bounced it downfield, and it caromed off one of Memphis' up-men and Cortez Carter recovered."I'd like to say it was by design, but it wasn't," Holliday quipped.He wasn't joking so much about two other special-teams disasters, starting with the yielding of an intentional onside kick. After Alex Bazzie's post-touchdown penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct, Memphis kicked off from midfield with the Herd leading 31-14.

Henriques, a 5-foot-10, 200-pound senior, nudged the kick forward, ran past it and turned his body around as a shield to easily recover it 11 yards downfield. That allowed the Tigers to score another touchdown and keep the Herd offense off the field for 31/2 more minutes."We had guys in position, but that was about as good of a kick that I've ever seen," Holliday said. "We thought, going in, we were going to get that. Not particularly that, but I knew going in that we were going to get something in the special teams, or offensively, that's going to take some shots and create issues for us, and we did."

Like the issues created when Australian native Tom Hornsey faked a punt and jump-passed to McCain, who took it 61 yards to the Marshall 5. From there, Memphis scored to cut the lead to 31-28."There's been a lot of games we've installed it. This week was a good look for us," Hornsey said.Holliday said, "The fake punt, the guy's covered. We got the guy who caught the ball. They've only got two eligible [receivers], the two ends at the line of scrimmage, and we had both of those guys covered. I think [Craig] Wilkins was picked, because we had that covered. I'm anxious to see the tape and see exactly what happened."

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There were times when you just knew why Memphis is a one-win team, including the last play of the second half.Down 17-7, the Tigers had first down on the Marshall 26-yard line, with 22 seconds left and no timeouts. Quarterback Jacob Karam got in trouble and was being taken down for loss when he got the idea to pitch the ball backward and hope for the best.It nearly went for a Marshall touchdown, as Deon Meadows chased the ball down at the MU 46. Meadows took off downfield, but he coughed it up and Memphis lineman Jordan Devey recovered at the Memphis 43.On top of that, the Tigers were flagged for holding. And they tried to call a timeout. Officials had a lot to sort out, and so did the Marshall stat crew.The final tale: Karam was charged with a 5-yard rush and a fumble, Meadows given a recovery, a 7-yard return and a fumble, and Devey the first of his two recoveries of the day (he scored a TD on the second). The holding penalty was declined; Memphis was assessed a delay-of-game penalty, which the Herd accepted with a 10-second runoff.Briefly

Cato's four touchdown passes give him 42 for his career, lifting him past Carl Fodor into seventh place on the MU career list. His 500 career completions rank him sixth.

The Herd has started the game on offense in all nine games, whether by winning the coin toss and taking the ball or by the other team deferring its option.

Fullback Devon Johnson and Allen became the 16th and 17th Herd players to score a touchdown this season, 15 by offense. Derek Mitchell (by blocked punt) and Devin Arrington (interception) have the non-offensive scores.

Antavious Wilson's seven catches gives him 170 in his career, eighth on the all-time list. He passed John "Fuzzy" Filliez (1973-76) and Randy Moss (1996-97).

Travon Van, the cornerback who had tweeted earlier about getting a release from MU, attended the game in his jersey. He was initially seen with fellow injured players Arrington and Darryl Roberts.